May Every Wound Be Fatal - Chapter 27.1
After a fairly warm summer, King Bailion’s birthday returned once more.
Prince Cassian returned to Elmaril to attend his father’s birthday celebration, and naturally, his knight, Elizer, also entered the high citadel.
Songs of troubadours and dances of jesters, laughter like thunder, and flames that surged like waves.
The streets of Elmaril were filled with scenes Elizer had never witnessed before. The spectacle was something the harsh northern lands could never show, so both Elizer and Martin fell unusually quiet, seemingly tense side by side.
Martin, in particular, kept glancing around, which eventually drew a scolding from his older brother Marius, causing him to feel rare embarrassment. That lasted only briefly, however, as he soon became excited at the sight of the sophisticated city girls.
It made sense. The young knight Martin was primarily concerned with romance and marriage.
By then, Marius had already become a father, and Maria, contrary to adult worries, drew attention from the young men of the village.
Meanwhile, Martin, having been rejected by local girls repeatedly, was determined to find a bride in the royal capital.
“Stop dawdling and find yourself a bride. If you do nothing, you’ll end up marrying Maria by default.”
Half in jest, half in sincerity, Marius’s remark drew an almost automatic response from Elizer.
“Maria should marry someone better. I…”
The unfinished words, paired with an awkward smile, were obvious enough.
Martin, quick to notice, tapped Elizer sharply on the back, clearly annoyed.
“Hey, Elizer. You have a bad habit of giving up too soon.”
“…What?”
“You know it yourself. And you know there’s no need to do that in everything.”
“…Hey, Martin.”
“Remember this advice from your older brother so you won’t regret it later.”
“……”
Elizer opened his mouth to reply humorously but found himself struck to silence by the truth of Martin’s words.
“Anyway, I must go. I have an appointment with my future wife.”
With that, Marius left, and Elizer’s amused smile bore a trace of bittersweetness.
By Elizer’s reckoning, his current life was already more than he deserved. A lowly illegitimate child, he had become the prince’s knight and lived shoulder to shoulder with others.
Yet, being human, he still had the desire to one day put down roots and live like everyone else. He tried to ignore that desire, telling himself that to want more would be greed.
But Elizer had no time to reflect further. Rumors that the new knight of Prince Cassian was King Bailion’s illegitimate son spread quickly throughout the palace.
The whispers, starting from who knows where, could not be contained. People focused on Elizer and exaggerated the rumors as they pleased.
None of it helped Cassian.
Especially with the tensions flaring over supposed conflicts between King Bailion and Cassian, a strange atmosphere permeated the royal palace.
“Leonard, that sly fox, is certainly behind this.”
Noel, rarely losing his composure, could no longer restrain his anger. As a loyal knight, he could not stand by and watch his lord become increasingly imperiled.
“For now, it would be best not to send Elizer as a rider in the upcoming joust.”
Though he said “for now,” he seemed ready to send Elizer back to the north immediately.
Cassian, however, shook his head decisively as if he had anticipated such matters.
“If that were the plan, I would not have accepted Elizer as my knight. It was something that had to happen eventually.”
Elizer found it difficult to raise his head. Accepting the reality that his very existence posed a threat to Cassian, despite his intentions, was hard.
“…Yes, Prince.”
Noel, as always, obeyed Cassian, but ultimately excluded Elizer from the guard duty for the time being. The rumor alone, along with the constant attention he drew, made him more of a hindrance than a help.
Every night, the palace held celebrations of the king’s birthday until morning, but Elizer remained alone in his room each time.
Elmaril was completely different from the north, and from the southern isles. Elizer could not fully be the prince’s knight.
All the while, the stares and whispers of others never ceased.
“Completely clueless…”
“The king is concerned about Prince Cassian…”
“The Duke and Prince Tiberian’s daughter…”
His head ached. Endless thoughts threatened to drive him mad.
Unable to bear the suffocating pressure that made him feel as though he could not breathe, Elizer finally bolted from the room.
***
Elizer pushed through dark bushes, avoiding the crowd.
No matter how fast he ran, the voices talking about him did not fade.
‘Where should I go…’
He raised his sweat-cold face and glanced around.
At that moment, he spotted a pitch-black rear garden that seemed empty.
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